Theinformationread by Jon at 119 Ministries for this video was written by EliYah (who is a personal friend of mine) and is found at Theobjections to the Luni-solar Calendar raised by Jon need to be carefully and systematically addressed. I’m not sure what to think about Jon reading someone else’s study, nor do I know if this was approved by “EliYah”. I doubt EliYah will mind as I don’t think his work is copyrighted, but I’m just a bit surprised that Jon, who did not do the research himself, feels qualified to rebut the Creation Calendar. Had he taken the time to study this out for himself, looking at both sides of the issue and all of the evidence, he might have come to a different conclusion. It is possible that Jon did not read every line of EliYah’s study (on video) due to some difference in theology or on the occasions that EliYah writes in the first person. In spite of this possibility, EliYah’s entire study is below. I will respond in green. 4-2-2013
Beware of the “Lunar Sabbath”
If you are new to the understanding of keeping Yahweh’s Sabbath, you probably have never heard of “Lunar Sabbaths.” But it is pretty likely that you will eventually find someone who practices and teaches it. Just as the traditional Christian Sabbath departs from keeping the Sabbath on the day that Yahweh made holy, so does the Lunar Sabbath. [This is an allegation that Jon has yet to prove, but hopes to. It is untenable that he put this statement here before he has proven anything of the sort.] This study is written to help equip the body of Messiah with a scriptural basis of keeping the Sabbath on the 7th day of every week, and to establish why any deviance from that is unscriptural.
Bias & ulterior motives
As I did when studying out the validity of the traditional “Sunday Sabbath,” when studying out this subject I tried to be as objective as possible, not caring one way or another if I have to change anything I believe. At this stage in my life I am a business owner, so I would not be affected in the least if the Lunar Sabbath doctrine were true. I would have no problem at all with resting on any day of any week if I needed to change it. I do not have a denominational hierarchy of men to answer to, and I’m not part of any man-made organization. I like to be free to study and learn the truth, and apply it to my life without hindrance.
I hosted a discussion on this topic in a private forum for almost 4 years in which there were over 5500 contributions by people promoting and disagreeing with the Lunar Sabbath doctrine. I’m not going into this topic as a novice and I’ve had plenty of time to mull over, pray, and meditate on this subject. To date, I have not seen anything that would prove the Lunar Sabbath doctrine to be scriptural. Rather, quite to the contrary.
It will soon be apparent that neither EliYah nor Jonlooked very hard.
Just about everyone I know who has accepted the Creation Calendar did so by faith before theycouldprove it from Scripture. And nearly everyone I know who has rejected the Creation Calendar took just the opposite path,setting out to disprove the Lunar Sabbath, but never offering a single text to support their satyrday Sabbath. As you will see below,Jon tookthe latter pathwhile ignoring the obvious evidence that satyrday is nothing more than a pagan/papal tradition. You will also see in EliYah’s refutation some of the SAME arguments presented by other nay-sayers in the Hall of Shame who took a similar path to disprove the lunar Sabbath.
As EliYah mentioned, he has no hindrance to keep him from accepting the Creation Calendar (if he found it to be true)because he is self-employed. I had (and lost) a $30+ per hour job in the local hospital after I accepted the Creation Calendar and asked for my Sabbaths off. In spite of his confession to the contrary, you will soon learn that EliYah and Jon are biased against the Creation Calendar. It is apparently settled in his mind that satyrday is the Sabbath. If this sounds harsh, let’s permit Jon’s refutation of the Creation Calendar settle this point.
If the Lunar Sabbath is of men it will come to nothing; if it is of Yah, it cannot be stopped.
What constitutes proof?
I have found that there are different levels of what constitutes “proof” in the mind of people. Some require just a little bit of evidence to support a doctrine or belief, and others require a lot of evidence to support a doctrine or belief.We need to be careful that we are relying on real evidence to support our belief rather than an interpretation of evidence. In my mind, the evidence used to “prove” the Lunar Sabbath doctrine rely on a person to already be predisposed to believing in the Lunar Sabbath in order to interpret the evidence in such a way that supports their doctrine.
Yes, I accepted the Creation Calendar by faithbut I was certainly not predisposed to it, being a 4th generation satyrday Sabbath keeper. Financially it would have been a lot easier for my family to continue keeping satyrday, but the truth is not up for a vote. It is not a beauty contest. None of us are predisposed to the truth; it is contrary to our carnal nature. I did, however, accept it by faith and then set out to prove it in Scripture. Is there anything unsound in that?
What constitutes truth is not open to debate, only our motives. The truth is still the truth regardless of how few accept it. Error is still error no matter how many accept it.
I’ve found that in order to really believe in the Lunar Sabbath doctrine, one would need to rely on a certain level of (highly interpretive) evidence rather than real “proof.” Yet, strung throughout some Lunar Sabbatarian literature are very strong terms such as “conclusive proof.” When examining this “conclusive proof,” it becomes clear that the evidence offered is far from proof, let alone conclusive. We need to beware of someone’s broad-brushed use of terms like this and be a good judge of whether or not what they offer is really “proof.” It’s easy to be swayed by such strong terminology, so we should be willing to make our own judgments about whether or not their evidence really is “proof.”
Conclusive proof is a catch phrase used most notably by Arnold Bowen, an early Lunar Sabbath advocate. Perhaps Bro. Arnold uses this phrase like a club which puts some people off. Perhaps Bro. Arnold is crying aloud, sparing not. The phrase“conclusive proof”is a subjective term meaning that Bro. Arnold has all the evidence he needs to accept and understand the Creation Calendar. Everyone else has to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling, rightly dividing the Word of Truth. That said, I agree with Arnold. He has presented“conclusive proof.” Here is how I determine what truth is, and what constitutes “conclusive proof”…
1. If I find a single text that says “thus saith YHVH”, (Deuteronomy 8:3b, Matthew 4:10, Luke 4:8), it is truth, and I must obey His command whether there are 2-3 witnesses or not.
2. If I find 2-3 witnesses, texts saying the same thing, (Genesis 41:32, Deuteronomy 19:15, II Corinthians 13:1) then it is absolute truth that I must admit, and comply with.
3. If I find a chain of texts where there is an unfolding of truth, one expounding upon the other, (Isaiah 28:9-10), it is truth that I am responsible for.
4. If it agrees with the Torah and the prophets, neither adding nor subtracting anything, (Isaiah 8:20, Deuteronomy 4:2), it is the straight truth.
5. A lack of all the above means that thething is NOT true. If there is no “thus saith YHVH, no 2-3 witnesses, no chain of textual evidence and no support found in the Torah and the prophets, then it is false. It is then my privilege to admit it and tell others that it has no foundation in truth.
6. Any historical evidence that agrees with Scripture is acceptable as supportive evidence to the truth. Any historical record that disagrees with evidence presented in Scripture is a lie of the highest order of magnitude.
These methods were employed by Bro. Arnold and others, the nay-sayers have to ignore these because an honest application of these 6 “proofs”renders satyrday Sabbath defenseless. The “proof” is right here. If Jon can answer these questions, he will have his “conclusive proof” that satyrday is the Sabbath…
A. Where in Scripture does it say that satyrday is the Sabbath?
B. Where in Scripture does it say that the Sabbath is every seventh day in an unbroken cycle of seven day weeks?
If Jon can answer these two questions from Scripture, this issue will go away. But he can’t and hasn’t here (as you will see) so Jon has no conclusive proof for his Sabbath. He has to rely upon the writings of men because he has no support in Scripture for his conclusions.
So at the heart of where we stand regarding this doctrine is determining “what truly constitutes a scriptural fact,” and what is merely a surmising, or a theory which requires one believe a series of “possibilities” rather than real facts.
I will stand upon the 6 different ways of determining truth listed above. I will let you, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, consider the matter and determine who has Scriptural evidence and who relies upon the writings of men.
What is the Lunar Sabbath?
The Lunar Sabbath ignores the current weekly 7 day cycle in use today and uses the moon to determine when a new week begins and ends. [This is a true statement.] So rather than observing the Sabbath on the 7th day of a recurring, uninterrupted 7 day week[and where are the instructions to observe the Sabbath or week in this manner found in Scripture? Before Jon has even offered proof for his version of the week, he is demanding that everyone observe the week in the same manner as he.] Lunar Sabbatarians restart a weekly 7 day cycle near the beginning of each lunar month. A lunar month follows the phases of the moon rather than the 30-31 day calendar in use today.
Jon observes the new moon, and follows the lunar months for the annual feasts (as opposed to the Gregorian months), as revealed in Torah, but observes the weekly Sabbath according to the pagan/papal seven day planetary week, which is not commanded in Torah. And this makes sense? Is this consistent with Yah’s other instructions—part His way, part man’s way?
Yahweh’s annual feast days are indeed determined by certain days of certain lunar months. Starting from the crescent phase of the moon, Yahweh’s Passover is on the 14th day of the first month of each year. But Lunar Sabbath keepers believe that the regular Sabbath falls on certain days of every month. They choose to keep the regular Sabbath on the 8th, 15th, 22nd, and 29th day of every lunar month.[It is not our choice. The only weekly Sabbaths that can be date identified in Scripture fall on these days.] A few do it on the 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th days of each lunar month but for the sake of simplicity we will address those who keep it on the 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th days.Here is an illustration to help clarify:
Lunar Month1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8
9 / 10 / 11 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 15
16 / 17 / 18 / 19 / 20 / 21 / 22
23 / 24 / 25 / 26 / 27 / 28 / 29 / 30
I have to give EliYah credit for presenting a layout of the Creation Calendar in an accurate fashion. But again my friend presents his position as the standard without the benefit of Scriptural evidence. Scripture does not say that the months begin with the first crescent. The Babylonian rabbis adopted this tradition while in Babylon; it was not practiced this way in ancient Israel, but it was a custom some of them adopted after their Babylonian exile.
“The Babylonian calendar was a lunisolar calendar with years consisting of 12 lunar months, each beginning when a new crescent moon was first sighted low on the western horizon at sunset, plus an intercalary month inserted as needed by decree. The calendar is based on a Sumerian (Ur III) predecessor preserved in the Umma calendar of Shulgi (ca. 21st century BC).”
“The beginning of the month in the Babylonian calendar was determined by the direct observation by priests of the young crescent moon at sunset after the astronomical New Moon.”
The link, leads you to this quote: “The Babylonian calendar was a lunisolar calendar. The Babylonian day began at sunset, and each month notionally began with the first rising of the crescent moon; in essence, a Babylonian month was a synodic lunar month, represented as a 29 or 30 day month. Contemporary records show that the start of the month was actually determined by observation of the new moon wherever possible, or by prediction if not.’”
“The months began at the first visibility of the New Moon, and in the 8th century BC court astronomers still reported this important observation to the Assyrian kings.
Thus, the Babylonian calendar until the end preserved a vestige of the original bipartition of the natural year into two seasons, just as the Babylonian months to the end remained truly lunar and began when the New Moon was first visible in the evening. The day began at sunset. …. The Jewish adoption of Babylonian calendar customs dates from the period of the Babylonian Exile in the 6th century BC.”
Some might be tempted to say, SEE! But they would be wrong. These websites accurately record the events as history reveals them. It was the Babylonian rabbis who adopted the Babylonian calendar, including the days beginning at sunset (the days in Scripture begin at dawn, see attached.), the months beginning with the first visible crescent, and the pagan names of the days and months. The days and months in Scripture are by ordinal numbers. The Israelites certainly apostatized and fell into the same or similar calendar corruption as the Jews, but there the similarities cease.
Because the Lunar Sabbath ignores the current weekly cycle in use today, their Sabbath may fall on any day of our modern week. It depends completely and solely on the moon phases. One major problem that Lunar Sabbath keepers face is the fact that there are extra days in the month which prevent them from being able to keep the Sabbath every seven days.
I agree that this is true, but I simply must again ask, where does Scripture say that the Sabbath is every seven days in an unbroken cycle? You can look high, you can look low, but Scripture describes the Sabbath as the seventh day of the week, period, never does it say every seven days. The issue at hand here is what week was Scripture in reference to when regarding the week? The pagan seven day planetary week or the one established at Creation?
One moon cycle is approximately 29.5 days in length
The moon moves through one complete cycle (new moon, first quarter, full moon, last quarter, conjunction) in approximately 29.5 days (See graphic to the right). Since we cannot split a day in half, this means that some lunar months will last 29 days, but other lunar months will last 30 days.
I don’t know if the graphic to the right will work for the reader. If not, there is an identical one on the home page of this website that my arm is pointing at.
So what do Lunar Sabbath keepers do on the 1st and 30th days of each month?
The answer to this question is elementary. We call them new moon days, and put them in the calendar just as EliYah arranged them above on page 4. They are days not counted in the work week.
This is where some may differ. While everyone calls them “New moon days,” some keep them as an extension of the Sabbath day on the 29th. [We are all learning. Not everyone is at the same place in their experience. When they get around to studying this out, they will learn that only the seventh new moon is on par with the weekly Sabbath.] This presents a problem though because there are scriptures which show men building (Exodus 40) and traveling (Ezra 7:9) on the new moon day. [Agreed] Also, it is not commanded anywhere that we must rest on any new moon day except the new moon day of the 7th month. [A conditional agreement here. In the future we will worship on new moon days, Isaiah 66:23, so I’m going to assume that new moon days were days of set-apart convocation (worship days), but not necessarily rest days.] The new moon on the 7th month is the Feast of Trumpets. This new moon would be what scripture alludes to in Amos 8:5 when some couldn’t sell their grains on the new moon day. [Agreed.]
The new moon days never fall during the common week; they are a third category of day. Ezekiel 46:1 says that the gatesto the temple is shut on allsix working days, but open on the Sabbath and new moon.If the new moon was on a wednesday and the tabernacle was still here and I asked you, “Would the gate have been open or shut?”how would you answer? Ifyou say it must be open because it is new moon day, I would respond that wednesday is a work day, it must be shut. If you agreed, “Of course wednesday is a work day, it must be shut.” I’d reply, “But friend, it is new moon, it must be open.” You have no correct answer because you are applying a pagan/papal/Roman/solar-only/man-made calendar to this Scriptural calendar event. Isaiah 66:23, II Kings 4:18-23andAmos 8:5 are three more witnesses that prove the new moon days cannot fall on one of the six work days. New moon, work day,Sabbath. Looks like this: